Northwood’s disappointing run continued as they suffered another defeat at the hands of improving Romford. The pressure of playing three games in a week didn’t help Woods’ dire injury situation and Sam Sharples and John Christian were the latest to be added to the casualty list, Anton Robinson being  given a first start on the right flank whilst Will Hudson came into central midfield. Danny Power returned from suspension to reclaim the right-back birth from Scott Purdue and Anton Lewis made his first start for a number of months in attack with Hugo Figueiredo reverting to the substitutes bench.

Northwood enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges with Ryan Tackley rattling an upright with a fierce first time shot before Power stormed into the box before attempting to square the ball to Lewis but the pass was played behind the striker and the chance was gone. Woods maintained their bright start and they deservedly opened the scoring on 10 minutes as Power combined well with Lewis before picking out Hudson who had timed his run to perfection and drilled the ball home for his second goal in Northwood colours.

Woods continued to look the better side with Romford having to do most of the defending and Robinson was enjoying a promising debut and his delivery from the right flank lead to a couple of half chances for Kyle Matthews but Romford averted the threat.

Romford hadn’t shown much attacking prowess up to that stage, an attempted overhead kick from Paul Kavanagh which sailed harmlessly wide followed their first significant move. And Northwood were soon back on the offensive as Lewis latched onto Daryl Campbell-Grimshaw’s ball inside the full-back but his near-post shot was thwarted by Romford ‘keeper Danny Mulrooney.

Having been comfortably on top, Woods switched off as a quickly taken short corner lead to Bradley Falco being afforded a free-header to bring Romford level on 39 minutes. Northwood had some more defending to do before the half-time whistle sounded. Firstly another Romford corner caused concern in the Woods’ box but Toran Sengamore’s shot was deflected wide before ‘keeper Mitch Swain had to claw out a free-kick from substitute Andy Edmunds.

Both sides looked keen to force the advantage after the break with Northwood threatening first through Matthews as he had a shot deflected over the Romford crossbar whilst at the other end Chris Thomas tested Swain with a low shot before the same player tried his luck from distance but the shot comfortably cleared the bar.

Northwood kept up their attacking momentum as Matthews hada close-range shot charged down and they had a wonderful opportunity to regain the lead as Robinson’s cross found the unmarked Lewis with the goal at his mercy but he scooped his shot over the bar.

And as often been the case in recent matches, Woods were delivered a cruel blow as Romford immediately broke away and capitalised on some poor defending as Kurt Smith calmly slotted the ball past Swain to give the visitors the lead on 65 minutes.

Figueiredo was introduced for Campbell-Grimshaw as Northwood looked to regain the initiative and they went close through Hudson who was denied by a perfectly timed tackle from James Ishmail before the Woods’ goal-scorer sent a shot over the Romford crossbar following a neat Robinson lay-off.

John Sonuga was replaced by Gilbert Nuako as Northwood continued to press for an equaliser and Figueiredo’s near post cross almost reached Hudson before the former saw his low shot gathered by Mulrooney as Anthony Page closed in for a possible fumble from the Romford ‘keeper. Woods maintained the pressure on Romford and they thought they had secured a deserved equaliser in the final minute as Power headed home a Matthews cross but the hosts were denied by an offside flag.

Northwood’s relentless pursuit of an equalising goal continued deep into the five minutes of added time, Robinson having a header cleared by a frantic Romford defence.  Woods almost suffered the injustice of conceding a third goal as Edmunds broke clear of the home defence but Swain was equal to the challenge.

But there was no time left for Northwood to resume their brave attempt at rescuing a rightful share of the spoils as the whistle sounded on their fifth successive defeat, a statistic which doesn’t deserve to be associated with a young side showing plenty of promise and good football but for whom lady luck has deserted them.

Report by ROBIN PIPER

Photos by James Brown